Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Blog Question for Per. 2

22 comments:

I kind-of expected him to turn against Big Brother, mainly because that's what Montag did in Fahrenheit 451, there seems to be a trend with the books written during the Cold War. What really surprised me was that Big Brother won at the end and they turned Winston into this mindless robot, doing whatever he was told to do. I guess if you're going to write an influential political novel, you've got to make it as scary as possible. There's just one way to describe Winston's change, this wouldn't be a very good fairy tale. (There's no "...and they lived happily ever after.")

I was a little surprised at what happened to Winston. I thought that he would probably get turned in eventually, but I didn't think that he would completely come to love Big Brother. I was also surprised that he betrayed Julia. At the beginning, he was against the Party, but then he came to love it in the end. I thought that he would still dislike the government, and I thought that he would be able to withstand the brainwashing, and wouldn't give in to the Party and their beliefs. Most novels that we've read show that a utopia is impossible, but this one actually made it look like it were possible. Also, I figured that he would be able to triumph through it because all of the other characters in other books were able to (Montag, and others).

I was surprised about how he became so rebellious after meeting Julia. Before meeting Julia he was thin and weak and didn't seem to have much rebellion in him except for the diary, but then he became a full-fledged rebel. I also didn't expect him to lose his rebellious ways so quickly. After he got out of the Ministry of Love and the Thought Police no longer paid attention to him, I expected that he would return to his old ways once again and turn on Big Brother; after all, no one would notice. I also thought that he and Julia would still love each other in the end the way they used to; like the fact that he betrayed her wouldn't matter.

I agree with Brian and Chelsea, I really thought that Winston would rebel against Big Brother to the end. Instead, he betrays Julia and stops loving her, becoming one of the Party's unquestioning pawns. Any conspiracies that he had planned were gone, and he was content to live out the rest of his life drinking victory gin and absorbing the Party's lies like a sponge.

I think that the most suprising thing about the way that Winston changed thoughout the story was near the end when he finally was turned into a loyal party member. I thought that he would remain a rebel against the government until he died or he found some way to escape. The last thing that I thought was going to happen was that he was going to end up being a Big Brother loving citizen.

I believe Winston's changes through the beginning and middle of the story are fairly predictable. He begins living life day by day, but he also questions the workings of the society and his past. When Winston meets Julia, his reaction is also predicable. The only twist is near the end. Even as Winston concentrates on the hatred of the Party and Big Brother, he finds that he can accept the ideas of the Party to get out of torture. Then, he maintains those ideas and lives his life accordingly. He also loves Big Brother. For Winston to have maintained ideas contradictory to how he had been living his life, Winston must have a very programmable, inhuman-like brain. For me, this was the most shocking conclusion of the story; the Party is able to control someone’s thoughts.

I was surprised by how loyal Winston was to the party by the end of the book. He had been so rebellious in his thoughts and actions, that it was hard to believe he had none of that rebellious spirit stayed in him. I was thinking he might've returned to his old way of thinking after leaving the Ministry of Love.

What surprised me most was the fact that he went from liking big brother to hating big brother to liking him again! I thought that he would go against Big Brother but I guess there was no way through the system.

What surprised me the most about Winston's evolution was that Big Brother was able to change Winston from hating Big Brother to loving him. I expected the government to just vaporize him and Julia when they were caught like they did with everyone else, but instead they managed to change them both.

The ending of the book, with Winston's final change surprised me the most. I found it hard to believe that he gave up on all thoughts of change and gave himself over to Big Brother willingly. It seems like most people agree with the fact that the ending was the most surprising. We all find it hard to think that someone can truly change you enough that you don't ever recongize yourself

I figured that Winston was going to fall against the Brotherhood at the beginning of the book, because of his thoughts that were expressed. I was surprised at the betrayal by Winston against Julia. I figured that he wouldn't go against her, since they had promised themselves never to stop loving each other. I was also shocked at the change to loving Big Brother. Winston had seemed to hate Big Brother in the middle of the book. This was a drastic change. Overall Winston goes from a loyal Party worker, to a deceiver, to a lover, a convict, and back again to a supporter. He changes alot which shows the overall power of the Party during the 1980's.

I was surprised at the end of the book were Winston could love big brother, yet still talk to Julia. I thought that one of them would happen, but defiantly not both. The party was really successful in making him into an empty shell.

I was pretty surprised about what happened to Winston also. It seemed like his mind set and will power were much stronger then they turned out to be. He said that he was willing to die for what he thought was right, and it seemed like he changed his mind. I have been doing karate for about a year and I've developed a very strong mindset. I was rather astonished that someone would give up so easily. If Winston had truly loved Julia, then he would have died for her, and not betrayed her. But I do have to say, the end was pretty creepy.

In starting the book, I kind of expected Winston to change. I agree with Brian, from the start I was connecting this book to Fahrenheit 451, and expected there to be a similar change in personality. What I didn't expect was for Winston to change into a type of person who would sell out another person. I would have expected him to change for the 'better' rather than for the 'worse'. I wonder what the author was trying to show in a change such as this one rather than a more expected, cliche, change for the better and society ends up perfect ending.

I was most surprised that at the end of the story Winston did not continue his rebelion. He conformed to the system after expending so much energy fighting it. It was a very different ending from what i expected.

Well, I wasn't really surprised about anything up until Julia. I thought that it was going to be a one-man operation. The next surprise was how Winston was completely reformed. It was a real downer, but Orwell probably thought that was what was needed, and it most likely was.

I thought that it was really sad how his views changed by the end of the book. Instead of him overcoming the society and everything he just turned out like everyone else. In a way it was almost dissapointing. At the beginning of the book I got the impression that he might have been able to change the way that Oceania operated but he got betrayed and sucked under like everyone else. I wish that it would have ended happier than it did.

I thought the ending as the one thing that got me most and that I was most suprisd about. I defineltly htrough winston would never give in and love big brother and that he would alays be rebelling against the government. I think it is crazy also how they let him free, and stuff.